


Adding to the list of strange cases

by Perth (Ikana_Trash)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Angst, Attempt at Humor, Case Fic, Crossover, Edgeworth only makes a brief appearance, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied Relationships, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 06:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29148732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikana_Trash/pseuds/Perth
Summary: Phoenix is tasked with defending a young man by his brother, except he can tell the brothers are hiding secrets. They are... hiding a lot of secrets.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I uuuhhhh... Started writing with Trucy’s POV cuz I thought it’s be a good opener, but I forgot about Apollo and Athena, but Phoenix is still a lawyer so... AU where Phoenix didn’t get disbarred??? I guess???
> 
> I really need to plan my Fics out more, this is not the first time this has happened...

Trucy was alone when she heard the knock on the door. She at first assumed it was Daddy, or even Miles or someone else, but after the first knock, it went quiet and the person didn’t let themselves in. Her first thought was that it was a new Client for her Daddy. Usually people called ahead, and Daddy would tell her if he was expecting anyone, which was why she was suspicious. After about five minutes, the person knocked again. A patient person, if they were still standing there, for sure. She took another minute to compose herself and look outside the door through the little peep hole. 

There was a young looking man, almost certainly younger than Daddy, but most definitely older than her. He had short, blond hair, and a bit that stuck up. He also had big blue eyes with square glasses and wore an old-timey jacket Trucy’d seen in her history textbooks. 

She took a breath in, and then out, and grabbed the door handle, opening it up slowly,

“Heyy! There ya are! Took ya long enough! I need Phoenix Wright to take a case!” The man was quite cheerful as he held his hand out, “Alfred, by the way,” He smiled wide as Trucy hesitantly shook his hand,

“T-Trucy...” the man beamed and took a step inside,

“So, where’s Phoenix, Trucy?” Trucy stepped back as the man continued to make his way inside, taking a seat on the couch and lounging back, “Out shoppin’?” Trucy slowly closed the door and nodded, assuming that this man had to be a friend of Daddy’s if he let himself in like that,

“He said he was getting groceries,” Alfred gave a nod then tilted his head back to look at the ceiling,

“Hopefully he’ll be back soon, I need him to defend my bro,” Trucy was obviously wary of this stranger. The man had just let himself in and she couldn’t do anything to stop him, but he didn’t seem evil. He seemed kind, “When’d he leave?” Trucy shrugged,

“I dunno. I don’t pay attention to the time. Maybe fifteen minutes ago? Thirty minutes? He could’ve left an hour ago, I-I’m not sure...” Alfred hummed and closed his eyes, 

“I get that. I’m terrible with time... Sometimes I forget how old I am, in fact,” He chuckled. Trucy couldn’t help but giggle at that, and the man sighed. They went quiet for a few minutes, and just when Trucy was going to speak up, The door creaked open and Daddy was home with two bags of groceries,

“Hey Truce, I’m hom-“ Daddy’s face went blank as he saw Alfred on the couch, “Who’s this? Certainly not a friend of yours, right?” Alfred sprung up from the couch and before Trucy knew it, the man was holding Daddy’s hand and aggressively shaking it,

“Hello, Phoenix Wright, I’m Alfred F Jones, and I need you to defend my brother, please and thank you!” He spoke extremely fast, Trucy was barely able to process what he was saying,

“Wha-“

“Please, I heard you take supposedly un-winnable cases and I really need your help,” Daddy went quiet as the man went silent and looked desperately into his eyes, “Please...” Daddy let out an exasperated sigh then hesitantly nodded his head, slowly, 

“Give me the details, Mr. Jones...” Alfred jumped up and down in celebrations,

“Yeahh!!! Thank you so much!” 

* * *

Phoenix was... Intrigued to say the least. First, this man was at his home... His office, asking for him to take a case. Second, This man’s case was... Strange, to say the least. Apparently his brother, Matthew, was visiting him for the weekend and went for a hike on his own only to come back the prime suspect in a murder investigation and no one willing to defend Matthew. So, Alfred came to him after hearing about the cases he took. 

* * *

“I... I’ll take your case, Mr. Jon-“

“Just call me Alfred, Dude,” Phoenix nodded,

“I’ll take your case, Alfred,”

“Great! Since it’s kinda late, here’s my address and my phone number! Call me or visit me sometime tomorrow, any time works and you can do any! See ya!” And with that... Alfred was gone, leaving Phoenix and Trucy alone again. The next few days would be interesting, there was no doubt about that.

* * *

Phoenix awoke the next morning and almost forgot he had a case. It was Trucy who had to remind him. As he was dropping her off at school, she had turned to him to ask about the new client. Luckily she remembered, because if she hadn’t, there was no doubt that Phoenix would’ve forgotten entirely. He made sure to call ahead, then he made his way to the address Alfred gave him. 

When he arrived in front of the small apartment, he took in a deep breath then knocked on the door, letting the breath out. Almost instantly Alfred was at the door, pulling him in,

“Hey dude!! So glad you came! I kinda forgot how this whole thing happened, it’s been quite a long time since I’ve been involved with like... Courtroom stuff, but basically I tell you what happened, right?” Phoenix was overwhelmed by the man’s enthusiasm. He had so much energy,

“Did you witness the events?” Alfred shook his head, 

“Then you are, unfortunately, pretty useless. May I speak with Matthew, though?” Alfred was quiet for a moment, visibly confused for a second before his face lit up,

“Sure, I can bring ya to where he’s being held!”

* * *

When Alfred parked and let Phoenix out of the car, he could still feel the overwhelming energy the young man had. Hopefully his brother wasn’t as energetic, as just being being in Alfred’s presence was exhausting,

“I’d like to speak with Matthew, uh... Matthew William?” He was snapped out of his thoughts by Alfred talking to the guard by the door, who gave him strange a very strange look, “Is that the right last name? Matthew William?” Alfred asked. 

_** {Does he really not know his own brother’s last name?! Wait, actually, Shouldn’t it be the same as his own?} ** _

The guard gave Alfred yet another strange look then turned to his computer and began typing something,

“Matthew Williams?” The guard asked. Alfred nodded,

“That’s it! Matthew William **s**!” Alfred emphasized the S at the end,

“Reason for your visit, and your ID, sir?” Alfred grimaced at the mention of an ID, but complied without complaint, 

“Here’s my ID,” He slid the guard his ID, “And Matthew is my brother and I’m bringing in an Attorney for him to work with,” The guard raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Phoenix, 

“I presume that is you, sir?” Phoenix nodded, “ID?” Phoenix nodded and grabbed his wallet, quickly fishing out his ID as the guard handed Alfred’s ID back to him, “You’re good to go. Cell 18,” He handed Phoenix’s card back and pointed them down the hall.

They both walked in silence until they got to Cell 18, which was... Empty... There was no one in the cell...

“Mattie?! Are you here?” Phoenix looked into the cell, and once again, found no one in there, “Mattie!” 

“I’m right here, Al...” 

“WAH!” Both he and Alfred yelped in unison at the sudden voice coming from the other side of the cell.

A man who looked remarkably similar to Alfred was seated there. His hair was longer and more pale than Alfred’s and his eyes were a strange purple-blue hybrid, and his glasses were rounded instead of square, but other than that, the two were remarkably similar,

“Where did you come from?!” Phoenix questioned. The man sighed and slumped his shoulders,

“I’ve been here the whole time...” 

“Oh... Sorry for not noticing...” The man, presumably Matthew Williams, sighed, 

“D-Don’t worry about it, eh? Happens all the time, I’m used to it,” He shrugged,

“Alright, dudes , I’ll leave ya two to it, then! I’m gonna be waiting in the waiting room!” Before either Phoenix or Williams could say anything, Alfred was gone. Williams let out a long, tired breath, and sat back upright,

“I suppose you want me to say what happened?” Phoenix nodded,

“Alright, well... I was visiting Al. See, there’s a hockey game in two days, and it’s a game between a Canadian team and an American team, and me and Al always like to watch those games together. So...” Williams took a pause to take a deep breath in and out,

“I arrived early so we can... hang out for a few days before the game. I quite like nature, so the other day, I decided I wanted to go for a hike. I hike pretty often back home, so I looked up a nearby trail and went there for the day...” Williams once again paused for a moment to take a breath in and out, “On my hike, I... I found a discarded body. I didn’t realize it was a body,” Chains followed by locks quickly crossed Phoenix’s vision. Williams was lying about something, and two locks appeared,

“It looked like a log, but it looked like a weird log, so I went to check it out and... I turned it over only to see it was a... A body...” Phoenix sighed, but that was when he took notice of Williams’s lack of... Well, grief towards the situation. He most definitely sounded concerned, but Phoenix remembered being extremely panicked when he saw a dead body for the first time and how much it had shaken him up. He’d seen other people react in similar ways, and Williams’s lack of reaction admittedly worried Phoenix, 

“There was another lady who was walking behind me, and she saw me with the dead body, and she clearly got the wrong idea. She called the police on me, and now I’m here...” 

“Do you mind if I ask questions?” Williams nodded, then stopped, and shook his head, then stopped again, and tilted his head down,

“Go ahead, I don’t mind,” Phoenix gave a nod of acknowledgment,

“Around when did you go hiking and around when did you find the body?” Williams’s face went blank as he was silently thinking, 

“I think I left the house at around... One o’clock. I found the body at around five, I think. I was on my way back, near the end of the loop,” 

_** {I need to figure out what he was lying about. What was he saying when the Psyche locks appeared?} ** _

“Why did you not recognize the body as a body?” Williams shrugged,

“It looked like a log...” 

“But you said you hiked often. Wouldn’t you be able to recognize a log?” Williams nodded hesitantly,

“It looked like a weird log, that’s why I went to look at it,” That made sense, Phoenix supposed. They sat in relative silence for a few seconds until Williams sighed, “Listen, I didn’t do it,”

“And I Believe you,” Phoenix spoke almost instantly, “I’m here to prove you’re innocent, but to do that, I need to know all the details,”

“I’m just... I’m sorry...” Phoenix raised an eyebrow,

“Sorry for what?”

“I’m Sorry, I just... I’m causing a lot of trouble I never meant to...” Phoenix let out a breath of relief. He was worried that Williams was Sorry about the murder,

“The way you phrased that made it sound like you were about to confess to the crime, there,” Williams sighed,

“Y-Yes, I... I realize that, Sorry...” Phoenix gave a reassuring nod, 

“Was there anyone else with you?”

“Just the other lady I mentioned. I saw another guy on my hike but he was walking his dog and I only saw him leaving as I was entering the trail,”

“I see...”

“I really am Sorry...” Phoenix sighed,

“You can’t say that when we’re in court. It sounds like an admission of guilt, understand?” Williams was quiet for longer than what Phoenix would’ve expected,

“Right, Sorry, Forgot. Back home saying Sorry isn’t considered an admission of guilt since, uh... Sorry is used so often by guilty and innocent alike, it was deemed not good enough evidence,” Williams paused briefly, “Or something like that. I’m not too caught up on uh... Canadian Laws,”

“Canadian Laws?” Williams nodded,

“I’m from, uh... I’m from Canada. I live just outside of Ottawa, the capital,”

“I see. Well, thank you for your time, I’ll get back to you later,”

* * *

“So, what’d you get outta Mattie, Dude?” Phoenix jumped at Alfred’s voice when he got back into the lobby. He’d forgotten that Alfred was waiting for him,

“I can only assume he told me the same thing he told you,” Alfred shrugged,

“Well, Mattie may not look it, but he can be a good liar, so look out for that,” 

_** {I’m sorry, what? What is going on with these brothers?} ** _

“I’ll... keep an eye out, I guess?” Alfred nodded and a wide smile grew on his face as he led him back to his car and drove him back to his office.

**_ {I have the Magatama anyway, I’ll know when he’s not telling the truth} _ **

* * *

When they got home, Trucy went to her room to practice a new magic trick, and Phoenix turned on the TV to see the news. He did not expect to see a mugshot of Matthew Williams to be the first thing on screen,

_“-Williams, 19 years old, from Ontario, Canada. He supposedly works for the Canadian government, however his exact position in unknown. The victim in this case has yet to be identified, however Williams’s fingerprints on the body were discovered. Police are working on reconstructing the victims face for identific-“_ Phoenix turned it off. 

**_ {That kid is nineteen?! And working for the government?! And he was also apparently lying about at least two things, t-} _ **

“YO!!” Phoenix was startled from his thoughts by Alfred’s loud voice coming through the thin walls, “I know you’re in there, Dude!” 

_** {That sounded vaguely threatening...}  ** _

Phoenix thought as he stood up and opened the door, letting Alfred in, who immediately made a beeline for the couch and laid down,

“So, what’d you got on the case so far?” Phoenix shrugged,

“It’s definitely not an easy case, but I do believe your brother wasn’t the killer,” Alfred gave a hum of acknowledgment, then pulled his phone out of his pocket, his eyes widening as he stared at his screen,

“Shit...” Phoenix just barely heard him mutter under his breath, “Francis and Arthur are coming...” 

“F-Francis and Arthur?” Alfred groaned, 

“Yeah, our, uh... Older brothers... Sort of...” Two locks suddenly appeared over Alfred, and Phoenix couldn’t help but let out a tired sigh, “They’ll be here any mi-“

“ _Bonsoir_ , is this the right place, Alfred?” A distinctly Accented voice called. French, if Phoenix was hearing it correctly,

“Augh...” Alfred reluctantly stood up and walked to the doorway where the door was still opened and stepped outside, “Francis! Arthur! Here!” 

“Ah, Thank you for that, Lad,” a British accented man spoke as he stepped into Phoenix’s view. He was relatively short, with extremely messy blond hair, and bright green eyes. And massive eyebrows. Absolutely massive eyebrows. Behind him was a taller man with lighter and longer blond hair and some stubble on his chin. He had bright blue eyes like Alfred, and Phoenix assumed he was the French one,

“So, You’ll be the one to help, uh...” The British one trailed off, “Matthew?” He turned to Alfred who rolled his eyes and nodded, “you’ll be the one helping Matthew, then?” 

**_ {Did this man just forget his brother’s name?} _ **

“Yes, I am,”

“Well, it is nice to meet you, sir. My name is Arthur. Arthur Kirkland, if you will,” Phoenix nodded and took the brit’s hand and shook it, then looked to the taller man,

“My name is Francis, it is a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur,”

**_ {Yup, that’s the French guy} _ **

“Nice to meet you, Francis,” He replied back. The man winked at him, “so, you two are also Alfred’s brothers?” Alfred nodded, and Phoenix noticed how Arthur and Francis hesitated before also nodding. He could definitely tell that being blond ran in the family, that much was obvious about them... Actually...

“Where’re you guys’ parents?” Arthur very visibly and audibly cringed,

“Your English is horrible, good sir...” Phoenix heard him mutter as both Francis and Alfred laughed,

“ _Non,_ we uh... Parents aren’t really in the picture for us,” Francis answered, as psyche locks once again crossed Phoenix’s vision. A lot of psyche locks filled his vision. There was a real big secret there, and Phoenix wasn’t sure if he should press it because he wasn’t sure if it was relevant to the current case, and...

**_ {How many secrets do these men have?!} _ **

“We’d rather not talk about it,” Alfred interjected. Arthur nodded,

“Well, I suppose you all are adults anyway...”

“Well, We just wanted to meet you, Mr. Wright, I will be seeing you,” Arthur commented as he turned around and left,

“ _Mon Cher!_ Wait for me!”

“I am not your _Cher_ , you bastard!” 

**_ {Are they... Arguing?? now??}  _ **

Their voices eventually became muted and Phoenix could hear Alfred laughing,

“They fight all the time, don’t worry about. Been fighting for longer than I’ve been alive... A lot longer...” Phoenix half expected psyche locks to appear, but surprisingly enough, none actually appeared which was a rather pleasant surprise, “Anyway, I gotta get going, Mattie wants me to take care of his bear while he’s being held at that centre place,” Before Phoenix could even begin to question what that meant, Alfred was long gone.

**_ {Just who in the hell are these men?!} _ **

* * *

_ “Miles, Do you know who the prosecutor on the Williams case is?”  _

“Phoe- Did you take his case?” Miles heard Phoenix hesitate, a clear sign to him that Phoenix had indeed taken the case. He let out a disappointed sigh, “The odds are stacked against you, Phoenix,”

_ “They were also stacked against you, Miles, and I was able to clear your name, was I not?”  _

“Th-That hardly matters, Phoenix! We’re not talking about me! T-This is different!”

_ “And what exactly makes your case different? Someone supposedly witnessed Williams dispose of the body, someone supposedly watched you shoot Hammond. Incriminating fingerprints were found on the body, incriminating finger prints were found on the gun. Williams w-“ _

“Okay okay, you can stop, now!” Miles could hear Phoenix let out a congratulatory breath, “I just don’t see how you can prove him innocent,”

_ “They said the sa-“ _

“Don’t you finish that sentence,” Miles cut him off,

_“Sorry...”_ Miles sighed and placed his head in his hands, tired, 

“It’s... Fine, I just don’t like talking about that,” It took Phoenix a couple seconds to reply,

_“Of course...”_ another pause, _“So, do you know? Who the prosecutor is?”_

“I do not. Likely a higher profile one, though, considering who Williams is,” 

_“Right... D’you think it could be Franziska?”_ Miles shrugged, forgetting the fact they were on the phone,

“It’s possible,” He heard Phoenix groan on the other side of the phone, “Well, I have work to do. I’ll talk to you later, Phoenix, goodbye,”

_ “Bye, Love you,” _

“I... Love you too,”

* * *

After Phoenix made sure Trucy’s babysitter had arrived and was debriefed, he made his way out to check what was left of the crime scene. He really should’ve visited earlier, but it was better than not visiting at all. He presented his badge to the officers and made his way in to investigate. Luckily it wasn’t a long hike to the scene, and soon enough he saw Detective Gumshoe, 

“Gumshoe?” The Detective immediately perked up and turned around,

“Heya, Pal! You workin’ on this case?” Phoenix nodded,

“Yeah, I’m defending Williams,” Gumshoe chuckled,

“Good luck, pal, it’ll take some good ol’ wright power to win the trial,”

“Do you think he’s innocent, too?” Gumshoe hesitated then shrugged,

“I... All the evidence points to him, yes, but... That old lady is also quite suspicious,” 

“Old lady?” Gumshoe gave a nod, and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was a picture of an old lady with her white hair tied up in a messy bun,

“The lady who called the police in. She was actin’ strange when she was brought in for questioning,”

“Really?” Gumshoe nodded,

“She’s gonna testify in the trial, since, well, she supposedly watched Williams dumping the body,” Phoenix nodded,

“Right... Do we know who the body belongs to, yet?” Gumshoe shrugged,

“They’re still working on that, sorry pal,” Phoenix groaned. The trial was tomorrow! They had to know who the victim was, it was important to the case, “anyway, you can get to do your thing,”

* * *

As predicted, Phoenix didn’t find much useful things at the crime scene. An strand of purple fabric the police has somehow missed and a small clump of white fur. Either most of it was already taken for evidence, or there wasn’t much to begin with, and Phoenix couldn’t decide on which he thought was actually the case. After about two hours, he was on his way home, and when he arrived, he paid the babysitter and thanked them before they left. Well, he sure was going to have fun once again bluffing his way through court the next day.

* * *

“Good luck, Daddy!” Phoenix gave a slight nod as he waved to Trucy running to the school yard to meet with her friend. He smiled fondly as the two began chatting, and within a few minutes, the bell rang and all the kids ran to line up at their doors. When he saw that Trucy made it into the school alright, he took his leave and went back to his office to get ready for he trial.

* * *

The Trial... Well... It definitely happened. Nothing new was established, just repetition of already known facts. The prosecutor ended up being one he actually had never been against before, so he wasn’t exactly sure how to play his cards during it. Regardless, No verdict was given, and he was granted another day for more investigation. He was more then thankful for that.

When the Trial was brought to a close for the day, he walked out and was instantly greeted by Alfred, Arthur and Francis. He just barely caught Detective Gumshoe escorting Williams out of the courtroom, 

“Yo, Phoenix, dude!” He looked to Alfred,

“Alfred,” He nodded as a greeting. Alfred gave a smile as his Arthur rolled his eyes behind him. 

“One thing I forgot about Mattie!”

_** {Oh?} ** _

“He is way too good for his own good. Like, I know he didn’t commit the murder or whatever, but I wouldn’t put it past him to also defend the murderer out of just... The kindness of his heart,” It took Phoenix a moment to process what Alfred was telling him

_** {Is he telling me that Williams was actually a witness?} ** _

“I... I see...?” Alfred gave a reassuring nod and a wink before turning heel and walking away,

“You’ll have to forgive Alfred. He and Matthieu are quite close and they don’t get separated very often. He doesn’t show his emotions very well, none of us really do, but he does care for Matthieu,” Francis spoke up once Alfred was gone,

_** {Who is “us”? Do I even want to know??} ** _

“As much as I hate to disagree with you, You are... You are right, Frog,” Francis gave a hearty chuckle then brought Arthur for a hug,

“Oh, that’s nice to hear, say it again, won’t you?” Arthur quickly shook off Francis and pushed him away, flailing his arms so Francis couldn’t grab him again,

“I will not!” Francis laughed again, and Phoenix could only watch, confused. They were... A very strange family, to say the least... 

He cleared his throat in an attempt to get their attention, which thankfully worked, as Francis and Arthur both went quiet and turned to him,

“Is there anything you two are able to tell me?” He asked once he knew he had their attention. Both of them were quiet for a moment,

“Well... Hmmmm...” Francis spoke up then went quiet, looking to Arthur, who sighed and put his head in his hands,

“It’s both Alfred’s and Matthew’s decisions if they wish to let Mr. Wright know. It’s not our place to speak,” Arthur seemed to answer an unanswered question

**_ {Let me know what?} _ **

“ _Oui,_ I suppose that is true... It is a lot to dump on this poor Lawyer just for a case, though...” Francis replied

_** {Are they ignoring me? Or did they forget about me?} ** _

“It’s still the boys’ decision in the end,” Arthur added, turning to leave. Francis quickly followed after him, leaving Phoenix alone in the hallway.

* * *

“Williams, may I ask you some more questions?” He needed to get to the bottom of this. Something was very clearly being hidden from him, and apparently only Williams could be able to tell him,

“G-Go ahead...” Williams’s voice was quiet as ever when he responded,

“Alright, thank you...” Phoenix took in a deep breath, “Your brothers, They were talking about... Something... That you could tell me? Said somethin’ about it being your and Alfred’s decision to tell me,” He watched as Williams’s eyes widened for a brief second before he closed his eyes for a few seconds,

“I’d need Al’s input if I were to tell you. I suppose after everything already, you deserve to know, but you’re not one of mine, you’re Al’s” 

**_ {I belong to Alfred, now? What?} _ **

“It is... Quite complicated, what our situation is... I suppose I can tell you a few things, but I can’t really tell you outright what we are without Al’s input. It wouldn’t be fair for Al,” Phoenix slowly nodded, still confused,

“So, can I ask questions, then?” Williams sighed and gave a slow nod,

“I’ll try my best to answer as truthfully as I can until I can get Al’s input,” 

“Great...” Phoenix paused. Just where to start... “Your file is very barebones. And I find it very hard to believe that someone of your age is not only working for your government, but you seem to be so high status that it’s classified,” Williams let out another long breath, clearly preparing and answer,

“Well, to begin, I am not actually nineteen. I... I cannot say for sure how old I am exactly, but I... I am not nineteen, I’ll saw that...” Phoenix waited, and a Psyche Lock lock. Nice, one down, however many left to go, Phoenix wasn’t counting,

“And... How do you have your job with the government?”

“That... It’s... hard to explain, but... It’s easiest to think of it as... As a Birthright, of sorts. I’m the only person who has or will take my position in the government,” Nothing changed with the psyche locks. Seems his position wasn’t a secret he was keeping. He did notice a lock was missing, though. Perhaps there’s been a black lock that he just accidentally broke, because there most definitely was one less lock,

“Birthright?” Williams nodded,

“It’s complicated, and I do not wish to reveal much without getti-“

“Yes yes, Input from Alfred...” They both went quiet for a moment and just as Phoenix was going to ask another question, he heard a voice from down the hall,

“Mattie!! Phoenix!!” It was Alfred, running down to meet with him and Williams, “Hey, Dudes! I’m here to explain!” Phoenix looked to Alfred curiously. Finally, the answers he wanted,

“I-I haven’t told him much. I wanted to wait for you, Al,” Alfred nodded,

“That’s cool. I’ll explain then!” Phoenix gave a nod of his own,

“Please do,”

“So... Uh... Wow, I haven’t had to explain this in a while, uh... Basically... Me and Mattie, and Iggy, and Francis, we uh... We aren’t Human?” Alfred went quiet, presumably to think about what to say next. Phoenix was in disbelief, and the fact that yet another Psyche lock had broken just worried him even more. These people weren’t Humans?? If they weren’t humans, then what were they? “Well, I guess we are Human, just... not in the same sense as you?”

“W-We’re the human embodiments of countries,” Williams interrupted. Surely his magatama was broken. There was no way that they were actually... Countries??

“Yeah, Mattie said that better then I could’ve. If you couldn’t guess, I’m America, Mattie here is Canada, Iggy is England, and Francis is, well... You take a guess what country you think Francis is,” 

_**{There is no way. No way. There is absolutely no way. Why did a psyche lock break?! There’s no way that was the truth!}**_

He couldn’t even figure out if the two were talking, he was so caught up his thoughts. The magatama was surely broken. Sure, the Magatama existed, and yes, he’d spoken with Mia through Maya channeling her and all, but this? This was just... 

“Phoenix? You good, Dude?” He looked up to see Alfred looking at him worried. 

_** {Holy shit...} ** _

“Al... You, of all people should be giving him space...” Williams mumbled, pulling Alfred back a bit. Phoenix was admittedly thankful for the extra breathing room as he continued to try and process what he was told,

“Listen, Dude, I know it’s a lot, but-“

“A lot?!” Phoenix repeated, “T-This... I... Y-You... How... How many of you are there?!”

“One for every country and then a few,” Alfred answered in an instant, “some countries have two reps, like the Italies. There are even a few for Micronations like Sealand,” 

“So... I... I’m defending a country?” Alfred went completely silent and looked to Williams,

“I... I suppose so, yeah, but Mattie’s his own person, dude,” Phoenix took some more time to steady his breathing when he noticed his breathing was beginning to get ragged, 

“I can only assume I’m not allowed to tell anyone?” Williams nodded and Alfred smiled wide,

“You got it, my dude! Can you promise me to never let the existence of Nations be known? Can you promise me, the United States of America, to protect the identity of me, the united states of America?” Instantly, without thinking, Phoenix nodded,

“I promise,” He spoke without thinking, and for a moment, he almost thought that he didn’t mean to reply,

“I’ll let you two continue questioning, then! See ya!’ And with that... Alfred, The god damn United States of America, was gone. He took a deep breath in and out, and turned to Matthew Williams, the entire god damn country of Canada,

“So, will you tell me the full truth of what happened that day?” Williams _(Canada?)_ sighed,

“I don’t want to, but... I don’t really have a choice, eh?” 

“We-“

“I didn’t kill him, it was the old lady. She was disposing of the body, and I ended up taking the blame for it. She pinned it on me, and I felt bad for denying that I was guilty. After all, I’ve been through worse than a jail, and she’s just an old lady. I also... Just... Didn’t have the courage to say it wasn’t me. She put effort into making me look suspect, and I-“

**_ {Wow... Who would’ve known that the country of Canada was Will Powers 2.0?... Actually... Canada came first, would that make Will Powers a Canada 2.0? How old is Williams, anyway? Wait, doe-} _ **

“Mr. Wright?”

“GAH!” Williams sudden touch startled him and he jumped back. Williams face was more or less one of concern and fear and sadness all mixed together,

“Mr. Wright, there is no possible way to get that old lady to admit it,” 

“You can testify,”

“I would rather not to. This case is already getting more publicity then it should. Al had them stop reporting on it, but it was big when the press was on the case,” 

“Alfred can just do that? I-Is it... Is it like mind control? Has he controlled me before? What do-“ Williams sighed, disappointed,

“It’s not mind control, he just has a lot of power in his position,” 

**_ {Ah... That makes a lot more sense...} _ **

“Point is, we nations can’t really be public figures. If we had made the news in the ‘20s then years later in the ‘70s we make the news again, well, people are going to catch on. We don’t tend to change a lot over the years. I’ve been nineteen years old for quite a while now, actually,”

“Right... That... That makes sense... So... How old are you?” 

“You can look that up on Google, your job is to get me found not guilty,” 

“B-But I have so many questions! L-Like, What would happen if I de-“

“Mr. Wright, please,” Phoenix sighed,

“Sorry, it’s a lot, Y’know?” Williams nodded, a slight smile on his face,

“I’ve had worse reactions to my status, don’t worry about it,”

“Wh-Who else knows?”

“Only World leaders, really. My Prime minister knows me personally, and your president and every other president and prime minister knows of us. Most royal families are aware, as well,” Phoenix supposed that made sense. He was a bit confused as to why then they decided to let him know, but he was... Grateful for the knowledge? He really wasn’t sure how he felt about this new information yet,

“Mr. Wright, if it makes you feel any better, I was once killed by my own Prime Minister because he didn’t believe me,”

“I’m sorry, what?! T-That does not, in fact, make me feel any better! Why would that- No, I... WHAT???” 

“I’ll not disclose which it was, You can figure that out on your own, I try not to hold opinions on my Bosses, but Wh-“

“Bosses?” Williams sighed loudly, and dipped his head,

“Yes. The Prime Minister is my boss, the President is Al’s boss, and so on,” Phoenix gave a nod, and Williams continued,

“I informed him of who I was, and he was rightfully confused and in disbelief. In his confusion, he hastily shot me dead... Not the most pleasant sensation, but at that point I’d been killed by bullets multiple times, and also much worse things,”

“You died?!” Williams went quiet, then slowly nodded,

“I revive if I’m killed, but that is not the point. You have everything you need, you just have to convince the court,”

“Right... T-Thank you, Mr. Williams,” Williams chuckled quietly,

“Just call me Matthew, eh?”

“Right... Matthew...” 

_** {The county of Canada}  ** _

his mind supplied

* * *

“Trucy, I’m home!!” Phoenix cried as he entered. He noticed that everything was very neat. A lot more neater than he left it, for sure,

“Ah, Mr. Wright, There you are! Alfred realized you were running late and called me and the frog in to take care of Trucy,” British accent. Arthur, Phoenix registered. He was concerned at first, but then he saw Arthur walk out of Trucy’s room, wearing... an apron? “I just put her to bed, and I hope you don’t mind that I did some tidying, your place really is such a mess,” Instead of questioning anything else, Phoenix’s mind instantly went to how Arthur put Trucy to bed,

“Trucy is asleep?” Arthur gave a nod and walked down to where he was and sat down at the couch, where a teacup was on the coffee table. He didn’t remember owning tea or teacups. Maybe Edgeworth had left them? 

“I’ve raised multiple children, I have experience. Told her a few stories of her when I was just a lad, and she was knocked right on out,” Arthur smiled to himself as he took a sip, “had to alter the stories a bit to, well... Take place but a few years ago, but I think she enjoyed them,” 

“You said that, uh, someone else was here?” Arthur scoffed,

“Yes, Francis. He’s on the floor in your room. He wanted to take the bed but I told him no, so he’s on the floor reading a book he found,” 

“Am I, now, Cher?” 

“WAA!!” Both he and Arthur yelled in unison at the sudden French accented voice from behind them, both of them turning to see Francis giggling to himself at them,

“You cannot sneak up on me like that!”

“Oh, but I just did, didn’t I?” Arthur’s face reddened in anger and he shot up from where he was sitting, careful not to disturb the tea,

“I cannot believe you had to tag along! You could’ve just stayed back in France, on your land, bu-“

“Matthieu was mine before he was yours. I came because I wanted to see him, not you, don’t get it twisted,”

“Yeah well, he isn’t yours anymore! You have no right to com-“

“And he’s not yours either, is he? Since... What, 1980-“

“April, 1982,” Arthur interjected, 

“He’s been completely independent for a bit, now, Arthur. Alfred even longer,” 

“Will you shu-“ Arthur’s rebuttal was interrupted by a rather violent string of coughs, and Phoenix could’ve sworn he saw blood. He droned out their arguing when he suddenly remembered Trucy. It usually took him at least an hour to put her to bed, and with these two men, these two countries, arguing, he was worried about Trucy waking up. At this point, their argument had progressed into something about wars won and lost, which was absolutely ridiculous, but he ignored it in favour of checking in on Trucy. He left them behind, and it seemed like they had already forgotten his presence because they didn’t react at all to him leaving. When he stepped into her room though, he found that she was sleeping peacefully, not even the slightest disturbed by the yelling going on just down the hall. Well, that was a relief. Now to break up the argument going on. When he glanced back down the hall, he noticed then that it was quiet. They weren’t talking. They weren’t even looking at each other. They were pouting like small children, refusing to even look, their eyes closed as their backs faced each other, their arms crossed. 

_** {They are just like children... And they’re hundreds of years old!! Wait, oh my god... They’re old men... Like, really old men... And they... Oh god, my brain...} ** _

“Hey, you two, if you’re done, you can leave now? Thank you for taking care of Trucy, but you can leave now,” Arthur opened his eyes to look at him then nod his head. He stood up, keeping his gaze from Francis then left without a word. Once the door closed, Francis proceeded to do the same thing and also left without a word.

* * *

The final day of court. He was going to have to somehow make that old lady speak, whatever her name was. He still hadn’t learnt it. He’d have to asked Gunshoe what her name was. He took a deep breath in, and let it out, and stepped into the courthouse,

“Detective Gumshoe?” 

“Oh hey, Pal! I was wonderin’ where you were! Trial’s startin’ soon!” 

“Yes, thank you, Detective. Could you please inform me of the witnesses name? The old lady?”

“Oh, right! Her name is...” Gumshoe paused to think, “Alda Koorpz,” 

“Thank you, Detective,”

* * *

Phoenix was confident. He was finally given a chance to chip away at Ms. Koorpz, and finally, after picking at her testimony and using the little evidence he had, He got her to break down. She verbally attacked Matthew, and even attempted to attack the prosecutor who had started to dig into her after the evidence started to point to her. Phoenix was glad to know that this new prosecutor had a sense of Justice and actually cared about putting the criminal away. When the trial ended, and Matthew was declared not Guilty and Ms. Koorpz was declared guilty, 


	2. Epilogue

When Phoenix stepped out of the courtroom, he expected to be greeted by the brothers, but what he wasn’t expecting was a group of strangers. A tall, blond man in a blue and white scarf with a scar on his forehead. A large, silver haired lady with... Large... Proportions... An Asian man with incredibly straight black hair, and empty brown eyes. And of course the three other Brothers,

“Wright-San,” The Asian man bowed, “Thank you for defending Williams-Sama,” The blond man nodded his head,

“ _Ja_ , your work is appreciated,” Phoenix was never good with accents. He couldn’t figure out which Asian country the Asian man was from, and he figured it’d be rude to ask, and now this man had a German accent, or something like German, at least,

“ _Так_ , I agree! Matvey is a dear friend of ours!” 

**_ {Okay, that has got to be Russian, right?} _ **

“Matvey?” He parroted. The lady nodded,

“ _Так, Так_ , Matvey! It is my little nickname for him!” She smiled fondly, as the blond man scoffed,

“So, d’you know when Mattie is gonna be set free?” Alfred spoke, and Phoenix heard Arthur mumble something about bad English. Phoenix shrugged,

“He should be released soon,” 

“ _Magnifique_! I look forward t-“ Francis cut himself off, his eyes widening at something at the other end of the room, “ _Matthieu! Par ici! Venez nous rejoindre!_ ” Phoenix turned to see Matthew walking towards them, a nervous smile on his face, 

“ _S-Salut, pas besoin d-de crier,_ ” Matthew almost flinched as he spoke, as if he knew something Phoenix didn’t. Matthew did, in fact, know something that Phoenix didn’t, because not even a second later, Francis was spouting off rapid fire French towards Matthew, who was nervously curling in on hismelf,

“ _Pardon, Je suis désolé,_ ” He spoke softly.

**_ {Pardon? Did he just apologize? Is that what that was? Why is he apologizing??}  _ **

Francis scoffed and rolled his eyes, 

“Care to clue us in on what’s going on, Frog?” Arthur interrupted, speaking for everyone present,

“It’s his French! It is absolutely horrid! His pronunciation is- Ugh!” Francis groaned. Matthew simply stood there, Clearly very nervous,

“C-Can we do this later?” Matthew finally spoke up. Francis reluctantly nodded his head, 

“Fine, but we will be speaking about your French later, understand?” Matthew shrugged,

“ _Oui, J'attendrai juste que le prêtre se mouche,_ ” 

“ _J-J’att- Non, Matthieu, Je n-_ “ 

“Shut it! We are done with this! Mr. Wright-“ Arthur successfully got both Matthew and Francis to shut up, “Thank you for defending Matthew,” Alfred gave a nod,

“Yeah, dude! You were totally awesome!” Phoenix turned to the three strangers

_** {Still have no idea who these three are...} ** _

“I do not believe we have introduced ourselves. My name is Honda Kiku... Kiku Honda, that is. Kiku. You may call me Kiku, Wright-San,” Phoenix nodded his head as Kiku bowed to him again, 

“Y-You can just call me Phoenix, Kiku,” Kiku nodded and Phoenix turned to the other two,

“ _Mene zvaty Katyusha!_ Nice to meet you, Phoenix!” He shook the lady’s hand, still unsure which of the three words she spoke was her name,

“My name is Katyusha,” 

_** {That solved that...} ** _

“Abel,” the final man introduced himself with a simple nod. 

**_ {Scary man...} _ **

Was the first thought that came to mind,

“It’s nice to meet you three... Uh, H-How do you three know Matthew?” He was cautious with his wording, half afraid that they may turn violent for some unforeseen reason,

“Alfred-san invited me here to celebrate,” Kiku answered. Katyusha politely dipped her head,

“Matvey is my friend, I wanted to visit!” She said cheerfully. Phoenix turned to Abel, who buried his face into his scarf, his eyes quickly darting to Matthew,

“Same as Katyusha... Matthew is a close friend of mine...” Phoenix nodded and gave a smile to the man,

“Well, it’s nice to meet you three, as well...” He paused, contemplating his next few words, “W-Would you three happen to, uh... Also... Uh...” Abel sighed loudly,

“We are also nations, _Hai_ ,” Phoenix gulped. 

_** {God, this is terrifying... I’m surrounded by countries in human form, god...} ** _

“Yo, dude, you don’t gotta be afraid,” Alfred slapped him on the back, a wide smile on his face,

“W-Wha-“

“You’re an American citizen, I can pick up on your emotions. Kinda hard not to when we’re so close,” Alfred shrugged, explaining

**_ {That... Explains some things?} _ **

“So, uh...” Alfred trailed off, 

“We appreciate you getting Matthew found innocent,” Katysusha interjected. Phoenix contemplated asking which countries Katyusha and Abel were. He was almost confident now that Kiku was Japanese- No, that Kiku was Japan- but he wasn’t sure about Abel or Katyusha. Abel sounded sorta German, and Katyusha sounded Russian, but... He still wanted to know,

“Hey, dude, Wanna go out, get some food? My treat, to celebrate Mattie’s innocence?” Alfred offered. Arthur scoffed and turned away, waving his hand,

“I’m going now, I will not stick around, good bye,” Alfred let out a laugh,

“I’m coming with you!” Francis called after Arthur, chasing after him. He heard Katyusha giggle then turned to Alfred,

“Uh, S-Sure, If you insist,” Alfred pumped his fists in celebration,

“Sweet! Let’s go!”

“N-Now?” 

“Of course, now! C’mon, dude!” Phoenix sighed then turned to Matthew, Abel, Katyusha and Kiku,

“I’ll join you if Matthew is joining you,” Abel spoke flatly. Matthew gave a small nod, confirming that he planned to join them,

“I have to get back home, sorry I can stick around, Matvey,” Matthew gave a kind smile to Katyusha, “But it was nice seeing you again. I often miss you at our world meetings, so it was nice,” Matthew’s face softened, “do pobachennya, Matvey,” Katyusha turned and left, giving one last wave of her hand before she disappeared into the small crowd,

“I too need to leave, but I suspect Alfred-san wishes me to stay,” Kiku spoke up. Alfred gave a nod,

“If you really do need to go, you can, But you are right,” 

“Very well. It would seem I am accompanying you four, then,”

* * *

They ended up going out for Burgers, something Phoenix knew Maya would be jealous of, but she didn’t need to know. Apparently Alfred loved burgers, much like Maya did, but it seemed Abel wasn’t so keen on them. He stuck to nibbling on the Onion Rings and fries from Matthew’s plate, not having ordered anything for himself. It was oddly domestic, and Phoenix couldn’t help but wonder if Nations could date eachother and if it was even allowed in general considering they were countries. He didn’t really think to much on it, though, because the next moment, Alfred was talking animatedly about various historical events that Phoenix had never even heard of. Then Kiku was rattling off stories from his country, then Abel was recounting the construction of his country, and Matthew even joined in to talk about how varied his wildlife was, a subject he seemed very passionate about. Phoenix really didn’t have much, but when asked, he would tell them about a case he’d taken.

* * *

**Translations:**

_**Par ici! Venez nous rejoindre!:** Over here! come join us!_

_**Salut, pas besoin d-de crier:** (Informal) Hi, No need to shout_

_**Pardon, Je suis désolé:** Excuse me(as an apology), (Formal) I am Sorry_

_**Oui, J'attendrai juste que le prêtre se mouche:** Yes, I’ll just wait for the priest to blow his nose (Yes, I’ll just take my time) [This is a French-Canadian Phrase. You will not hear a French person using this phrase]_

_**J-J’att- Non, Matthieu, Je n-:** I-I’ll- No, Matthew, I don-_

_**Mene zvaty Katyusha:** My name is Katyusha_

**Author's Note:**

> If enough people are interested, I’ll write an epilogue, but for now I’m all out of writing juice and I’ve been working on this at least a week now.  
> Sorry for not actually writing the in courtroom, Like I said, this was not really planned out so I kinda blanked...


End file.
